Allotment rules in France!

Posted on our facebook page (Ashford Allotment Group) : Christine from Henwood found this account from an Englishman living in France. READ IT and consider how lax our council is in comparison!

"Those of us who are urban dwellers often yearn for a garden. I have been on the waiting list for an allotment for a while, and have now got one! Deposit paid today (165 euros) and I will get a bill for the rent (125 euros approx annually). It comes with a shed, a pump and water butt, a perimeter fence and a locked gate. Anyone else have or had an allotment and have any advice for me? Here are the rules:

• You may not live in the shed ("la gloriette")
• You may not keep animals permanently on site.
• You may not park a vehicle on site.

Think that sounds reasonable enough? Not quite cottoned on that he is paying a deposit of about £150 and an annual rent of about £110? Read on!!!

• You may not hold meetings "de caractere proselytique" on site (that's no religious meetings, folks!)
  
• You may not use motorised equipment on Sundays, on public holidays, or on Saturdays between 1200 and 1400 and after 1900 (note the protected lunchbreak!!)
• You may use a mobile barbecue on site so long as your neighbours don't complain
• The council is responsible for the maintenance and repair of the gate, fencing, pump and water butt
• You may build a pergola for climbing plants, which must be made of wood and cover not more than 10 sq m of ground. You need written permission for this, for which a form is available.
• If your gate is metal (ours is) you must give it anti-rust treatment and paint it once a year
• If you have a perimeter hedge (we do) it must be no more than 1.5 m high
• No hosepipes (NO HOSEPIPES!)
• No motorised water pumps
• You must empty the water butt once a year, before the frost, and must avoid letting it fill up with rainwater or snow. Keep it covered during "la mauvaise saison"
• Only two types of compost bin permitted - an open one made of wood, and a closed one made of plastic
• There must be a path between the gate and the shed, not more than 1 m wide, made of smooth gravel (?) paving, mown grass, or beaten earth
• As well as pergolas, you need written permission to install tunnels for plants (polytunnels not allowed) and children's swings etc
• The allotment will be inspected two months after you acquire it and then at least twice a year to ensure that you are maintaining it
• Frames and sticks for beans, tomatoes etc must be no more than 1.7 m high
• A maximum of a quarter of the space can be used for lawn. It must be mown regularly between 1st May and 31st October.
• No more than two fruit trees, which must be apple, plum, pear or apricot, no more than 4 m high when full grown, and at least 2 m from the perimeter. Any trees of any kind taller than this will be removed and you will have to pay for the removal.
• No polytunnels, glass cloches only. No more than 6 sq m to be occupied by tunnels. No plastic coverings.
• No pesticides (!!!)
• No cannabis plants
• No bonfires
• You are responsible for keeping the perimeter and half of the width of any path clean and tidy.